In 2024, there were about 1.88 million farms in the United States. However, the number of farms has been steadily dropping since the year 2007, when there were about 2.2 million farms in the United States. U.S. farms In 2007, the average size of farms in the United States was the smallest it had been since the year 2000. As the number of farms in the United States decrease, the average size of farms increases. Texas, the largest state in the contiguous United States, also contains the highest number of farms, at 231 thousand in 2023. Organic farming in the United States The United States has over 2.3 million hectares of organic agricultural land as of 2021. In 2022, organic food sales in the United States amounted to almost 59 billion euros, making it the largest market for organic food worldwide. In 2021, the number of certified organic farms in the United States reached 17,445, up from about 14,185 farms in 2016.
Texas was by far the leading U.S. state in terms of total number of farms, with about 231 thousand farms by the end of 2024. Iowa was ranked second, among the leading ten states, with 86.7 thousand farms as of 2023. Farms classification In the United States farms are classified based on the farm income and government payments into six sales classes. According to the USDA, about half of all farms in the U.S. were classified in the 1,000 to 9,999 U.S. dollars sales class in 2023. Farming sector in the U.S. The total number of farms in the United States has decreased steadily since 2007. As of 2022, there were about 1.89 million farms in the U.S., down slightly from 1.9 million in the previous year. Contrastingly, the average farm acreage in the United States has increased in the past few years. The number of employees, including both part-time and full-time workers, in this sector was over 965 thousand as of 2019.
The average size of farms in the United States has seen a steady increase over the last decade. In 2024, the average farm size reached 466 acres, up from 418 acres in 2007. Between 2006 and 2007 there was a sudden drop in average farm size, but in recent years it has recovered and once again reached the same levels as its peak in 2006. Agriculture in the United States In 2023, there were about 1.9 million farms in the United States, down from 2.2 million in 2007. It appears that as average farm size has increased, the number of individual farms in the United States has decreased. Texas is home to the highest number of farms of any U.S. state, with 231,000 farms as of 2023. Major crops in the United States The United States produces a wide variety of crops. Though the production volumes of some major crops, such as wheat, have fluctuated considerably since 2000, the production of vegetables for processing has been on the rise in recent years. Grapes, apples, and oranges are the most produced fruits in the United States, with the majority of grapes being grown in California.
From 2000 onwards, the total area of land in U.S. farms has decreased annually, aside from a small increase in 2012. Over the time period displayed, the total farmland area has decreased by over 66 million acres, reaching a total of 876.5 million acres as of 2024. Farming in the U.S. Not only has the land for farming been decreasing in the U.S., but so has the total number of farms. From 2000 to 2021, the number of farms in the U.S. decreased from about 2.17 million farms in 2000 to just under 1.9 million in 2023. Texas has more than double the number of farms compared to other U.S. states, with 231,000 farms in 2023. U.S. agricultural exports The U.S. is known for agriculture production and is the leading exporter of agricultural products worldwide. The total U.S. agricultural exports were valued at over 178 billion U.S. dollars in 2023. Over 4.8 billion dollars’ worth of agricultural exports came from fresh or processed vegetables in 2022.
Quick Stats is the National Agricultural Statistics Service's (NASS) online, self-service tool to access complete results from the 1997, 2002, 2007, and 2012 Censuses of Agriculture as well as the best source of NASS survey published estimates. The census collects data on all commodities produced on U.S. farms and ranches, as well as detailed information on expenses, income, and operator characteristics. The surveys that NASS conducts collect information on virtually every facet of U.S. agricultural production.
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State fact sheets provide information on population, income, education, employment, federal funds, organic agriculture, farm characteristics, farm financial indicators, top commodities, and exports, for each State in the United States. Links to county-level data are included when available.This record was taken from the USDA Enterprise Data Inventory that feeds into the https://data.gov catalog. Data for this record includes the following resources: Query tool For complete information, please visit https://data.gov.
This coverage contains estimates of land in agricultural production in counties in the conterminous United States as reported in the 1987 Census of Agriculture (U.S. Department of Commerce, 1989a). Land in agriculture data are reported as either a number (for example, number of Farms), acres, or as a percentage of county area. Land in agriculture estimates were generated from surveys of all farms where $1,000 or more of agricultural products were sold, or normally would have been sold, during the census year. Most of the attributes summarized represent 1987 data, but some information for the 1982 Census of Agriculture also was included. The polygons representing county boundaries in the conterminous United States, as well as lakes, estuaries, and other nonland-area features were derived from the Digital Line Graph (DLG) files representing the 1:2,000,000-scale map in the National Atlas of the United States (1970). Agricultural land Census of Agriculture Counties United States
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Number of Businesses statistics on the Dairy Farms industry in the US
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The Census of Agriculture provides a detailed picture every five years of U.S. farms and ranches and the people who operate them. Conducted by USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service, the 2012 Census of Agriculture collected more than six million data items directly from farmers. The Ag Census Web Maps application makes this information available at the county level through a few clicks. The maps and accompanying data help users visualize, download, and analyze Census of Agriculture data in a geospatial context. Resources in this dataset:Resource Title: Ag Census Web Maps. File Name: Web Page, url: https://www.nass.usda.gov/Publications/AgCensus/2012/Online_Resources/Ag_Census_Web_Maps/Overview/index.php/ The interactive map application assembles maps and statistics from the 2012 Census of Agriculture in five broad categories:
Crops and Plants – Data on harvested acreage for major field crops, hay, and other forage crops, as well as acreage data for vegetables, fruits, tree nuts, and berries. Economics – Data on agriculture sales, farm income, government payments from conservation and farm programs, amounts received from loans, a broad range of production expenses, and value of buildings and equipment. Farms – Information on farm size, ownership, and Internet access, as well as data on total land in farms, land use, irrigation, fertilized cropland, and enrollment in crop insurance programs. Livestock and Animals – Statistics on cattle and calves, cows and heifers, milk cows, and other cattle, as well as hogs, sheep, goats, horses, and broilers. Operators – Statistics on hired farm labor, tenure, land rented or leased, primary occupation of farm operator, and demographic characteristics such as age, sex, race/ethnicity, and residence location.
The Ag Census Web Maps application allows you to:
Select a map to display from a the above five general categories and associated subcategories. Zoom and pan to a specific area; use the inset buttons to center the map on the continental United States; zoom to a specific state; and show the state mask to fade areas surrounding the state. Create and print maps showing the variation in a single data item across the United States (for example, average value of agricultural products sold per farm). Select a county and view and download the county’s data for a general category. Download the U.S. county-level dataset of mapped values for all categories in Microsoft ® Excel format.
This metadata report documents tabular data sets consisting of items from the Census of Agriculture. These data are a subset of items from county-level data (including state totals) for the conterminous United States covering the census reporting years (every five years, with adjustments for 1978 and 1982) beginning with the 1950 Census of Agriculture and ending with the 2012 Census of Agriculture. Historical (1950-1997) data were extracted from digital files obtained through the Intra-university Consortium on Political and Social Research (ICPSR). More current (1997-2012) data were extracted from the National Agriculture Statistical Service (NASS) Census Query Tool for the census years of 1997, 2002, 2007, and 2012. Most census reports contain item values from the prior census for comparison. At times these values are updated or reweighted by the reporting agency; the Census Bureau prior to 1997 or NASS from 1997 on. Where available, the updated or reweighted data were used; otherwise, the original reported values were used. Changes in census item definitions and reporting as well as changes to county areas and names over the time span required a degree of manipulation on the data and county codes to make the data as comparable as possible over time. Not all of the census items are present for the entire 1950-2012 time span as certain items have been added since 1950 and when possible the items were derived from other items by subtracting or combining sub items. Specific changes and calculations are documented in the processing steps sections of this report. Other missing data occurs at the state and (or) county level due to census non-disclosure rules where small numbers of farms reporting an item have acres and (or) production values withheld to prevent identification of individual farms. In general, caution should be exercised when comparing current (2012) data with values reported in earlier censuses. While the 1974-2012 data are comparable, data prior to 1974 will have inflated farm counts and slightly inflated production amounts due to the differences in collection methods, primarily, the definition of a farm. Further discussion on comparability can be found the comparability section of the Supplemental Information element of this metadata report. Excluded from the tabular data are the District of Columbia, Menominee County, Wisconsin, and the independent cities of Virginia with the exception of the three county-equivalent cities of Chesapeake City, Suffolk, and Virginia Beach. Data for independent cities of Virginia prior to 1959 have been included with their surrounding or adjacent county. Please refer to the Supplemental Information element for information on terminology, the Census of Agriculture, the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR), table and variable structure, data comparability, all farms and economic class 1-5 farms, item calculations, increase of farms from 1974 to 1978, missing data and exclusion explanations, 1978 crop irregularities, pastureland irregularities, county alignment, definitions, and references. In addition to the metadata is an excel workbook (VariableKey.xlsx) with spreadsheets containing key spreadsheets for items and variables by category and a spreadsheet noting the presence or absence of entire variable data by year. Note: this dataset was updated on 2016-02-10 to populate omitted irrigation values for Miami-Dade County, Florida in 1997.
The Census of Agriculture highlight key agricultural metrics for US states and counties. Percentage metrics included were calculated as follows: Percent of harvested cropland in cover crops = (cover crops acres)/((harvested cropland)+(failed crops)-(alfalfa))Percent of total tilled cropland using no-till = (no-till acreage)/(no till + reduced till + conventional till)Percent of tilled cropland using conservation tillage = (no till + reduced till acreage)/(no till + reduced till + conventional till)Percent of agricultural land in conservation easement = (conservation easement acres that excludes CRP)/((land in farms) – (CRP WRP FWP CREP acres))Percent of agricultural land in Conservation Reserve Program = (Conservation Reserve Program acres / cropland acres + Conservation Reserve Program acres ))*100Note, that counties for the Census of Agriculture are different than standard US Census Bureau counties; for example, cities in Virginia such as Harrisonburg, VA are rolled into the respective county and counties in Alaska are rolled into regions with their own district/region FIPS codes, etc. Also note, some counties have no data as one or more of the input variables included suppression.These data have been made publicly available from an authoritative source other than this Atlas and data should be obtained directly from that source for any re-use. See the original metadata from the authoritative source for more information about these data and use limitations. The authoritative source of these data can be found at the following location: https://www.nass.usda.gov/Publications/AgCensus/2017/Online_Resources/Ag_Census_Web_Maps/Data_download/index.php
The Census of Agriculture highlight key agricultural metrics for US states and counties. Percentage metrics included were calculated as follows: Percent of harvested cropland in cover crops = (cover crops acres)/((harvested cropland)+(failed crops)-(alfalfa))Percent of total tilled cropland using no-till = (no-till acreage)/(no till + reduced till + conventional till)Percent of tilled cropland using conservation tillage = (no till + reduced till acreage)/(no till + reduced till + conventional till)Percent of agricultural land in conservation easement = (conservation easement acres that excludes CRP)/((land in farms) – (CRP WRP FWP CREP acres))Percent of agricultural land in Conservation Reserve Program = (Conservation Reserve Program acres / cropland acres + Conservation Reserve Program acres ))*100Note, that counties for the Census of Agriculture are different than standard US Census Bureau counties; for example, cities in Virginia such as Harrisonburg, VA are rolled into the respective county and counties in Alaska are rolled into regions with their own district/region FIPS codes, etc. Also note, some counties have no data as one or more of the input variables included suppression.These data have been made publicly available from an authoritative source other than this Atlas and data should be obtained directly from that source for any re-use. See the original metadata from the authoritative source for more information about these data and use limitations. The authoritative source of these data can be found at the following location: https://www.nass.usda.gov/Publications/AgCensus/2017/Online_Resources/Ag_Census_Web_Maps/Data_download/index.php
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Number of Businesses statistics on the Corn Farming industry in the US
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Graph and download economic data for Employment Level - Agriculture and Related Industries (LNS12034560) from Jan 1948 to Aug 2025 about agriculture, 16 years +, household survey, employment, industry, and USA.
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Graph and download economic data for Percent of Employment in Agriculture in the United States (DISCONTINUED) (USAPEMANA) from 1970 to 2012 about agriculture, percent, employment, and USA.
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a The total number of farms or population occurring within each of seven farm/population-size bins. Data from Table 19, 2012 U.S. Census of Agriculture [16].b Grand totals for the farm and population data types representing the total number of swine farms and total swine population for the entire U.S.The number of swine farms is not confidential information and is published for all hierarchical levels of the Census of Agriculture. In contrast, the number of individual pigs can reveal socioeconomic information about individual farms and can be redacted, most commonly for county totals and subtotals due to fewer farms in these finer resolution categories.
This statistic depicts the number and average size of farms in the United States from 2012 to 2024. The total number of farms in the U.S. in 1900 was *********, as compared to1,880,000 in 2024.
This map shows where crops exist in the US. It also shows the quantity of farm workers along with their annual income. This is shown by metro and nonmetro areas.The layers within this map can be found in ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World:USA Cropland (requires an ArcGIS Online subscription) National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS)Farming, Fishing, and Forestry Employment and WagesBureau of Labor Statistics' (BLS) Occupation Employment Statistics (OES) seriesThe basemap was designed from the Light Gray Canvas basemap. Minor changes were made using the Vector Style Editor within Map Viewer.
The Census of Agriculture, produced by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), provides a complete count of America's farms, ranches and the people who grow our food. The census is conducted every five years, most recently in 2022, and provides an in-depth look at the agricultural industry. This layer was produced from data obtained from the USDA National Agriculture Statistics Service (NASS) Large Datasets download page. The data were transformed and prepared for publishing using the Pivot Table geoprocessing tool in ArcGIS Pro and joined to county boundaries. The county boundaries are 2022 vintage and come from Living Atlas ACS 2022 feature layers.Dataset SummaryPhenomenon Mapped: Cattle productionGeographic Extent: 48 contiguous United States, Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto RicoProjection: Web Mercator Auxiliary SphereSource: USDA National Agricultural Statistics ServiceUpdate Frequency: 5 yearsData Vintage: 2022Publication Date: April 2024AttributesNote that some values are suppressed as "Withheld to avoid disclosing data for individual operations", "Not applicable", or "Less than half the rounding unit". These have been coded in the data as -999, -888, and -777 respectively. You should account for these values when symbolizing or doing any calculations.Many cattle production commodity fields are broken out into 6 or 7 ranges based on the number of head of cattle. For space reasons, a general sample of the fields is listed here.Commodities included in this layer: Cattle, (Excl Cows) - Inventory - Inventory of Cattle, (Excl Cows): (By number of head)Cattle, (Excl Cows) - InventoryCattle, (Excl Cows) - Operations with Inventory - Inventory of Cattle, (Excl Cows): (By number of head)Cattle, (Excl Cows) - Operations with InventoryCattle, Calves - Operations with Sales - Sales of Calves: (By number of head)Cattle, Calves - Operations with SalesCattle, Calves - Sales, Measured in Head - Sales of Calves: (By number of head)Cattle, Calves - Sales, Measured in HeadCattle, Calves, Veal, Raised or Sold - Number of OperationsCattle, Cows - Inventory; Cattle, Cows - Operations with InventoryCattle, Cows, Beef - Inventory - Inventory of Beef Cows: (By number of head)Cattle, Cows, Beef - InventoryCattle, Cows, Beef - Operations with Inventory - Inventory of Beef Cows: (By number of head)Cattle, Cows, Beef - Operations with InventoryCattle, Cows, Milk - Inventory - Inventory of Milk Cows: (By number of head)Cattle, Cows, Milk - InventoryCattle, Cows, Milk - Operations with Inventory - Inventory of Milk Cows: (By number of head)Cattle, Cows, Milk - Operations with InventoryCattle, >= 500 lbs - Operations with Sales - Sales of Cattle >= 500 lbs: (By number of head)Cattle, >= 500 lbs - Operations with SalesCattle, >= 500 lbs - Sales, Measured in Head - Sales of Cattle >= 500 lbs: (By number of head)Cattle, >= 500 lbs - Sales, Measured in HeadCattle, Heifers, >= 500 lbs, Milk Replacement, Production Contract - Operations with ProductionCattle, Heifers, >= 500 lbs, Milk Replacement, Production Contract - Production, Measured in HeadCattle, Incl Calves - Inventory - Inventory of Cattle, Incl Calves: (By number of head)Cattle, Incl Calves - InventoryCattle, Incl Calves - Operations with Inventory - Inventory of Cattle, Incl Calves: (By number of head)Cattle, Incl Calves - Operations with InventoryCattle, Incl Calves - Operations with Sales - Sales of Cattle, Incl Calves: (By number of head)Cattle, Incl Calves - Operations with SalesCattle, Incl Calves - Sales, Measured in US Dollars ($)Cattle, Incl Calves - Sales, Measured in Head - Sales of Cattle, Incl Calves: (By number of head)Cattle, Incl Calves - Sales, Measured in HeadCattle, On Feed - Inventory - Inventory of Cattle On Feed: (By number of head)Cattle, On Feed - InventoryCattle, On Feed - Operations with Inventory - Inventory of Cattle On Feed: (By number of head)Cattle, On Feed - Operations with InventoryCattle, On Feed - Operations with Sales For Slaughter - Sales of Cattle On Feed: (By number of head)Cattle, On Feed - Operations with Sales For SlaughterCattle, On Feed - Sales For Slaughter, Measured in Head - Sales of Cattle On Feed: (By number of head)Cattle, On Feed - Sales For Slaughter, Measured in HeadCattle, Production Contract, On Feed - Operations with ProductionCattle, Production Contract, On Feed - Production, Measured in HeadGeography NoteIn Alaska, one or more county-equivalent entities (borough, census area, city, municipality) are included in an agriculture census area.What can you do with this layer?This layer is designed for data visualization. Identify features by clicking on the map to reveal the pre-configured pop-up. You may change the field(s) being symbolized. When symbolizing other fields, you will need to update the popup accordingly. Simple summary statistics are supported by this data.Questions?Please leave a comment below if you have a question about this layer, and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
[ Note: This dataset supersedes Version 1, https://doi.org/10.15482/USDA.ADC/1520662 ] In February 2020, USDA launched the Agriculture Innovation Agenda (AIA), representing a Department-wide effort to align USDA's resources, programs, and research to provide farmers with the tools they need to position American agriculture as a global leader meeting future food, fiber, fuel, and feed demands. As part of the AIA, USDA set ambitious goals to increase agricultural production by 40 percent, while cutting the environmental footprint of U.S. agriculture in half by 2050. The Agriculture Innovation Agenda (AIA) is USDA's commitment to the continued success of American farmers, ranchers, producers, and foresters in the face of future challenges. The AIA is comprised of four main parts. The first is focused on developing a U.S. Agriculture Innovation Strategy that aligns public- and private-sector research. The second integrates innovative technologies and practices into USDA programs to help fast track producer adoption. The metrics component aims to review USDA productivity and conservation data. Finally, the USDA scorecard has benchmarks to improve accountability. As part of the research component, in 2020, USDA collected unstructured text feedback through a Request for Information (RFI) on the most important innovation opportunities for the next era of agriculture to be addressed in the near and long term. RFI responses were qualitatively analyzed to identify emergent themes and common aspirational goal statements that stakeholders shared across multiple RFI responses. USDA collected 223 responses through the RFI. Responses were grouped into several focus areas including commodity crops, specialty crops, livestock, aquaculture, forestry, and farming, general. This dataset supports a dashboard that represents the synthesized data collected through the RFI and stakeholder engagements. Resources in this dataset:Resource Title: Discovery Goals spreadsheet with text tables for use with AIS dashboard, Version 2. File Name: Discovery goal tables_FinalApproved_12.28.20_v2.xlsxResource Description: Text summaries are organized into tabs that support filters by theme (e.g. crop production, forestry, beef and range, dairy, and data) and within theme into Innovation clusters (genome design, digital/automation, prescriptive intervention, systems based farm management) and innovation horizon (Incremental solutions to accelerate, transformative solutions to create, Next era concepts, and gaps & barriers (including policies or supporting technologies needed)). For each combination of innovation cluster and innovation horizon for a theme there is a text summary of the stakeholder feedback, drawn from raw responses. Only minor punctuation and grammatical changes from Version 1.Resource Software Recommended: Microsoft Excel,url: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/excel
In 2024, there were about 1.88 million farms in the United States. However, the number of farms has been steadily dropping since the year 2007, when there were about 2.2 million farms in the United States. U.S. farms In 2007, the average size of farms in the United States was the smallest it had been since the year 2000. As the number of farms in the United States decrease, the average size of farms increases. Texas, the largest state in the contiguous United States, also contains the highest number of farms, at 231 thousand in 2023. Organic farming in the United States The United States has over 2.3 million hectares of organic agricultural land as of 2021. In 2022, organic food sales in the United States amounted to almost 59 billion euros, making it the largest market for organic food worldwide. In 2021, the number of certified organic farms in the United States reached 17,445, up from about 14,185 farms in 2016.